Sponsored By:

Mechatronics Zone Recent News

While it often seems that the focus on printing technology today is on the three-dimensional kind, researchers hoping to further printed electronics applications are looking for new two-dimensional materials with unique properties. Newer materials, researchers believe, could greatly advance the printing of optoelectronics and photonics using ordinary inkjet printing process.

As collaborative robots, or co-bots, become more advanced, so do their communications. Indeed, Rethink Robotics recently annoucned it has upgraded Sawyer so that the collaborative robot can now communicate its production key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics.

At a grand public event before throngs of cheering enthusiasts, Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk last night unveiled a sleek new electric semi-truck with a 500-mile range.

The new over-the-road electric truck is said to combine powerful acceleration, driving simplicity, low drag coefficient, low operating costs, and the ability to prevent jack-knifing, along with the 500-mile range.

“Because the vast majority of routes are under 250 miles, it means you can go to your destination and back without recharging,” Musk told the raucous crowd at Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne, CA.

You can prescribe a patient medication, but you can't make them take it. Patient compliance has always been an issue in healthcare and one that digital health technologies such as wearables have tried to address.

As companies shift to digital systems on the factory floor the first step is often preventive maintenance. In previous years, highly experienced factory hands would go around and listen to the motors and drives. They could hear the health of the machines. They could smell it. Those folks are retiring, and they’re being replaced with sensors and alarms tied into IoT systems.

Featured Video

THE DRIVE TO FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION

THE DRIVE TO FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION

With today’s trend toward high mix, low volume manufacturing, the need for more flexible and smarter automation is paramount. This video by National Instruments explores how the combination of robotics, measurements and vision can help boost productivity.